Space Riders

I first saw this movie on VHS back in the mid 80's as a 15 or 16 year old. I was and still am an avid road race fan, growing up around the race circuits with my father. The thing I struggled to get my head around, apart from the strange plot, was the way the rider would enter a corner at Donington Park, then exit one at Mallory Park. I found that I spent the entire movie picking out this kind of thing instead of just watching it. I think Barry himself summed this movie up. When he was asked if he have any regrets about his race career he said "yes, making the movie space riders". All this being said I do have a VHS copy of the movie that I purchased to see if it was as bad as I remembered it to be... it was.

I saw this film on VHS in Holland in 2008 (i think). Damn Good!!!. No really, this is one of the best motor-race films ever made. For motorcycle/Barry Sheene fans, it is a must-see. But it will also entertain other people. The film has also an outstanding soundtrack which include: "Queen", "Duran Duran", "The Fixx"... Which makes that the movie doesn't get bored. And Barry Sheene has proofed that he is also a good actor. It also starred the famous actor Gavan O'Herlihy and Maria Sirtis (Troy from Star Trek: The Next Generation) has also a cameo. I couldn't believe that this fantastic movie was never released on DVD. Anyway: This movie is one of my favorite movies!

Having sort of worked on this film in a very minor capacity. I used to work at Donington Park race circuit, and while there some of the filming for Spaceriders took place. Myself and a colleague helped with the set up of some racetrack stunts/crashes that were organised by Stunt coordinator Roy Alon who was very well known in the film/TV world.When you see some of the footage being shot you cannot imagine its outcome on the big screen. The film director Joe Massot I believe had never done a film of this nature before, but he did not do a bad job considering Motorcycle Racing and its heroes are not the norm for film makers. One similar was Silver Dream Racer with David Essex made around 1978. Spaceriders is a one off rarity looking at the ups and downs of men racing motorcycles, its good for its time, and the soundtrack almost all songs by the band Queen make it some of the real racing footage exciting. If the film ever came out on DVD I would buy a copy for sure